Fight continues, Irti gains on her Opponent

     Deciding to make the best of it, she continued the turn and dove downwards.  She managed to loop around and regain the altitude she had held, but then saw Peri casually circling above her. 

     Irti hovered in the air for a moment, assessing the situation.  As she expected, Peri went for the altitude advantage.

     Peri dove toward Irti, who calmly looked up at the diving white-winged woman.  At the last moment, Irti dropped one wing, suddenly angling down and to the side.  She leveled her wings, and gained speed, diving toward the ground.  She quickly recovered from the dive, and turned back upwards, describing a full circle in the air, and ending up above her starting position.  The entire maneuver took only seconds. Suddenly, Peri found her foe above and directly behind her. 

     Peri desperately tumbled in the air.  She was still below her foe, and barely in control of her flight, but at least she was now facing Irti.  Irti barreled downwards, and then pulled up at the last second.  She buffeted Peri with her wings, and twisted her sword as she dueled her foe.  Her other arm darted in at a moment of weakness, when Peri’s attention was turned toward a particularly brutal slam of both wingtips on the sides of her face.  Peri recovered from a flurry of wing beats on her face, only to discover her foe’s true purpose.  Irti had pulled up and away from Peri.

     Irti smiled in satisfaction, holding a sword in each hand, and hovering just ten feet above her foe.  “It's finished.  You will return to our world.”

     What Irti didn't understand was the smile that suddenly appeared on Peri’s face.  It was explained a moment later as pain flared in her wing.  She lost control of her flight, and began to spin as she tumbled toward the sea.  

Air Combat

     From her side view came the female.  Irti turned quickly mid air to confront the angry Ahriman.  She saw the other woman brandishing a bronze sword.  Reaching behind her back, she pulled the sword she had in a sheath strapped between her wings.   She parried the first blow the woman did, and then she recognized her.  “Peri, you don’t have to fight,” Irti shouted out over the wind that had picked up from behind her.  

     A snarl came to the other woman’s lips.  Then, her white wings opened to their full eleven and a half foot length.  Irti knew then she needed to gain altitude because the woman was about to ram herself and the sword into Irti. 

     Irti bolted up.  She parried another blow.  The swords clashed as both of the winged women climbed and climbed, striving for height.  They were a match in strength.

     Peri, the younger of the two, tried with all her might to out maneuver and out speed her older, more experienced opponent.  Irti watched her flapping her wings almost too quickly, leaving trails of air swirling from the desperately beating feathers.  Irti leaned backwards, opening space between herself and her foe, letting the younger woman tire herself.

     Irti heard her snarl in triumph, and saw her foe aggressively climb, now her foe was just above her, and again they dueled with swords.  Irti spun in the air, allowing a leg to spin toward her surprised foe.  It connected with her foe’s womb, bringing a cry of pain and rage.  But the unexpected maneuver cost Irti altitude.

Flying over the English Countryside

Flying over the English countryside, the devastation of war became a small note.  The greens and small towns close to the Edge of the Island looked untouched.  Quiet hamlets of individuals knowing a war was happening around them but not participating in a grand scale. 

     Another war had been waged around the humans for millennia.  A war where even some humans chose sides, Irti did not understand that, in her own people there were a few humans that chose to help them.  Those humans manned safe houses.

     There were also many humans around the world that believed the meddling white wings were some kind of good offered to them by their god.  Irti did not know of a god who would want to interfere in the natural course of human daily life.  The god she served had a ‘hands off’ kind of philosophy.  He did not demand followers.  If you chose to follow, it was your own choice.

     Her mind drifted as they both flew over some pretty white cliffs.  The English Channel looked murky to Irti.  The storm clouds must have just assaulted the Channel.  That meant the main continent would have a deluge of rain later.

     Irti slowed herself down hovering over the churning water of the Channel.  As did her ex–lover Daryush, he spoke to her clearly as if the wind did not impede his sound.  “I do what I think is right.  You know that.”

     “What’s right?”  Irti said, hovering.  She flapped her massive wings a couple of times before she spoke once again. “Right is subjective.”

     “As you always argued.”  He said, moving slightly closer to her.  “Saving a few humans doesn’t harm anyone.”

     “Yes it does.”  Irti knew she would be talking to a wall but she had to try, “You don’t know who is supposed to live or die.  Some lives have to move on and become new people.  We are not the judges of this world.  Frankly, I wish the veil between our world and the humans would be sealed off forever.”

     He smiled, “You still have no liking for people.”

     Irti cringed, “My liking or disliking has nothing to do with you and your kind impeding human history.”

     “Quite right, quite right.”  He sighed, “I tried to make you understand.”  He reached out a hand to gently touch the side of Irti’s creamy cheek.  “You are so dark and beautiful.  I could kiss you even now; alas that is not what you want.  You want to take me back to our world.  You want me on trial for crimes that I don’t think I am committing.  That is not what I want.”

     She flew backwards.  “Your touch never meant much to me.” 

     “I know, we were not meant to be mates.”  He smiled again as he peered over Irti’s shoulder, “I found mine.  She is coming right now.”

Talking to Daryush

     She lifted her head to the sky as she heard the first of the bombers fly overhead.  She looked down to see the Ahriman look directly at her. 

     Irti jumped into the air.  Her black wings unfurled spanning their full Twelve-foot length.  They beat a couple of times, hovering over the alleyway.  She swooped down, diving at the man.

     He gazed at her.  “Irti, we should talk first.”  He lifted his wings and flapped a couple of times to gain altitude.

     “My claws are not out yet.”  Irti responded.  She slowed her descent to let him come close to her.

     He smiled at her, “I can see that.”

     “We can talk over the channel, and get away from the humans,” Irti suggested. She waited patiently for yet another response.

     He smiled at her once again; at one time she could read his looks.  “Okay, but . . . ”

     “No buts . . . You have no idea what will be those humans’ fates.  And we are charged with no interferences.  I would like an explanation.”  She said sweetly. 

     “That I will give to you.”  He flew by her letting a white wing brush her own. 

     She followed.  This was the first time in years that she had seen him.  She had fought and maimed many of his kind over that time.  But him, he was the leader, a person of interest to her council. 

     She watched him flying straight east of the city toward the English Channel.  She was thinking about the council of elders, with judgment of the most important of her kind.  She knew she would be omitting from her report that she talked to Daryush Hatef.

Beginning of a new Century and Mission

     The smoke clouded the sunny sky, as another air raid siren blared over the city speakers.  Those people caught out in the street ran toward an unusual light. There were not many since most of London was evacuated, but the ones who stayed still had to get to jobs. A man motioned to the frantic people walking, not running along the street.  So the people flocked to the man motioning to them.

     The man was an Ahriman, a man with white wings; he gave the appearance of helping the humans.  He was actually interfering.  The female Daeva watched from a shadowy rooftop.  Humans called her kind demons.  Her kind had nothing to do with humans.  All her people did, the Daeva, was to keep the Ahriman from interfering with the humans. 

     But did humans really need to know the truth? 

     They idealized the Ahriman as “Angels,” and seemed to not want to see that sometimes what the Ahriman did was against the human’s best interests.  Who would tell them the truth?  Nobody, the Daeva’s liked being able to do his or her job without human knowledge.

     So the female Daeva watched, disgusted.  She had thought of the man in a different way only a few years ago.  She honestly planned to try to convince her own kind that the Ahriman had changed.  The man had convinced her that the entire race had, since he was their leader.  She had been fooled.  He wanted only knowledge of how her people figured out where and when they needed to step in, to stop the Ahriman from interfering.  She did not tell him, even though he was so convincing.

     She cursed him under her breath.  His manipulations ticked her off.  He swore his love for her.  She wanted desperately to believe him.  She wanted to believe that she loved him too.  She knew something held her back. 

     Even their lovemaking was not what she imagined lovemaking should be.  It was cold and just functional with no real passion.  She wanted everything, love and passion. So, he was lacking.

     She shook her head to clear it.  Her job was to stop his kind.  She would complete her mission then return home.  

Radiating Power

     The new Ahriman looked down at her, radiating power.    She felt even more naked under his lustful gaze. Her dress was already open in the back to accommodate her wings, and now it was split down the front.  She felt ashamed of the stirrings of desire that she felt while he looked at her.  She knew then that she would give herself to him, but she also knew it would not be true love, just her following her latent desire.

     That was how she met Daryush, the leader of the Ahriman.

The short one lunged

The short one lunged, his mistake.  She had been well trained, and as his sword darted toward her, she traced a line down his arm with her blade.  He was obviously surprised, dropping his sword even though the wound was minor.  She stepped forward, sacrificing some of the safety of the chimney, by placing a foot firmly on the sword.

     The tall one shifted, almost out of her view, and she turned just in time.  He was more skilled, and had greater reach.  Her sword blocked his, but then the leader struck as well.  She dropped to the ground, rolling to the side, and avoiding the second blow, but her wings got in the way.

     She lay on her back panting, and the leader placed his sword at her throat.  “Drop your sword!”

     She complied, though she kept its location in mind, waiting, no hoping, for them to make a mistake.  The one she had cut came forward, “I want to cut her, it’s only fair.”

     The leader scowled, but nodded, and the short one placed his sword on her arm.  She flinched, and he laughed.  “Maybe, I’ll have a little fun instead?”  He put his sword at her belly and slashed upward.  This sliced skin, and ripped the fabric from navel to neck.  “Now I will finish you off for good!”

     As he pulled his sword back, a new masculine voice said, “Stop, what are you doing?”  The three almost cowered in his presence.  A blonde haired pretty faced male with perfect muscular physique stood before her.  He wore a simple black cape and underneath a toga of the same color. “I sent you to save a life, not to take one.”